Things have been going great with using my own products. I've spent the week researching and collecting ingredients. I can't wait to run out of products so I can try making my own. We had an encouraging Trader Joe's run on Thursday. I say encouraging because I found almost everything on my list for less (often half) of what I could get it for online, and I didn't have to buy large amounts of ingredients I've never tried before. I'm compiling a chart of prices and locations that I'll probably post sometime. To read my updates, see my posts on deodorant and toothpaste.
Unfortunately, the first product I ran out of was one that I'm not super excited about making myself--foundation. My research led me to Bare Minerals, and I got some of their products to experiment with. Definitely not the cheapest make up you can find, but cheap = toxic in a lot of cases. I will write a longer post when I've been using them for a while.
I was eager to try something new this morning, so I used apple cider vinegar in place of conditioner. It’s hard to work with by itself since it is the consistency of water, but my hair feels and looks healthier already. I can’t wait to run out of conditioner so I can make my own!
I started fermenting citrus enzyme cleaner, a household cleaning-product base, a few days ago, and it should be done in about 12 days! Since I took it straight from this blog, I’ll just post the link: http://www.ecokaren.com/2012/05/citrus-enzyme-cleaner-recipe/
Other news aside, here is the main event!
...WAIT. Don't try this one. I'm not sure I like it yet, so give me some time to evaluate and change the recipe. It could be months. It made A LOT, and a little goes a long way.
Lotion Recipe
½ cup Olive Oil
¼ cup Coconut Oil
¼ cup Beeswax
2 TBSP Shea Butter
1 tsp Vitamin E Oil
Essential Oils optional (I
am not using them)
Combine all ingredients in
a glass bowl or jar. Put a few inches of
water in a pan and place over medium heat.
Put the glass jar or bowl in the water and let the ingredients melt,
stirring or turning the jar as needed. Pour into storage containers. (If you are using plastic, I suggest cooling completely and then scooping lotion in.)
Makes approx. 10oz. (1 ½ cups)
Time: about 30 min (5 prep, 20+ melting)
The melting takes a while
(20 min?) since the beeswax melting temperature is about twice that of coconut
oil. My research says that beeswax and Shea
butter are edible (not recommending it!), so I don’t see any reason you
couldn’t use this lotion as lip balm as well!
My lip balm recipe calls for almost the same ingredient list, so I think
I’ll just use this until I’m ready to make some.
Cost
breakdown:
Shea butter $1.20
Coconut oil $1.00
Beeswax $1.75
Olive oil $0.72
Vitamin E oil $0.16
Total cost $4.83
No comments:
Post a Comment